Shadow Spinners
by Muslima
Summary: Rose can't remember anything and gains a second chance, and someone just happens to enter into her life once again. Rose & Lloyd(ch 8)
1. Opening

Shadow Spinners

Chapter Zero/Prologue

Disclaimer: Characters belong to Sony. Story line and actions done by the characters belong to me. No money was made during the making nor after it.

~The Threads of Fate are more than often spun by Shadow Spinners who make The Rope of Time.~

--Ilana Rehman

Dark eyes opened. Eyes that lend the seeker to an endless and infinite abyss.

The wind didn't even comfort me. My skull pounded, I looked around in a daze. _Where am I? _Moments passed as I waited for the answer to just come—as if I should know, in my drowsy bewilderment. I was there in the darkness for countless moments swaging in my muddled mind. So, this was time, I realized as my mind registered the fact. 

Who am I_? _

Questions flooded my now vigilant, startled mind. _What am I? How am I here? Where is here? Am I born? Born. Born? What is born? Where did this word 'born' come from? Where did I come from? _

The answers were all the same: I didn't know. My unsteady hands went to refuge in my throbbing temples. A wave of sadness and angry confusion at myself over came me. _Sadness? What is sadness? _I pushed the thoughts away, mad at my ignorance. While characteristically, my face like stone. _This. Sadness is this. What I am feeling right now._

My face muscles ache as I made an unfamiliar gesture; I smiled, it was a weak one where the corner of my mouth twitched but a smile nevertheless. I knew two things: Time and Sadness. I was absurdly glad. However, my gladness was short lived—another pang overtook me just for a moment. 

I stared at the darkness really to soak in anything as I glazed at my surroundings. Fine rich-emerald-colored grass rooted itself on thick sturdy roots that held the huge trunks of trees up._ Grass._ My mind tasted it as I locked it in my memory. Endless fields of grass and trees. _Forest._ I held on to each revelation with warmth. It was all I knew. 

I glanced at myself, I had a velvet-leather outfit that covered the upper part of my body fully yet, it lacked the same effect on my lower portion of my body, something like a tunic without the leggings; a skirt. I had no concept of nakedness so it didn't brother me at the least. 

God knew how such knowledge came to me but I knew it as a fact that once this clothing was a darker hue of the color of the sky. _Blue._ However, something stained it and made it purple. Something that made it damp once more, right now. It was a word I knew that I knew once very well. For a moment I thought I grasped it but it then fled. I search my memory—nothing. Knowing nothing about myself as a constant reminder perturbed me, I gave up.

My stomach rumble. Food, I needed water—that I remembered. My tongue was also dry like sandpaper and stuck to the top of my mouth. During all this, I felt discomfort, my head continued to ache, I felt flushed. 

__

Discomfort is just an annoyance. The quote was an instinct, maybe it telling something about me. Such hope felt unreasonably alien to me, as if a mucking ice-cool gel ran under my skin. I must find water, I thought not wanting to myself to be sidetracked. I got up on weak legs and started walking, trying to ignore the pain increasing in my head as I took each step, considering it annoyance. _Water, I must find water first._

I was about to step on an object hidden in the grass when I spotted it. There was no gleam that helped me spot it for it there was no moon. But I _felt _it. As I held it in my hand nothing matter, everything disappeared. An unholy feeling of wholeness filled me which only made me grip tighter. Not with pride but with a grimacing respect.

It was a weapon. A sword. How I knew, I will never be able to explain. I felt as if I could and would never part with it. It was my drive, what I lived for.

I starred at the blade in the smoothing darkness that pressed on me yet at the same time breathed as I breathed as if it were alive. And it was, darkness was also me.

The saber had a dark muck on it, the same, I realized, as the one that tainted my clothing that gave it it's present color. The thought made me shudder yet I didn't. I starred at it in calm terror.

This rapier _was_ me, down to every inch. I knew it in the marrow of my bones. We were both stained in this foil mire—what was the name?

__

Blood. 

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Shadow Spinners

****

Chapter One

Blood, an ugly word. I would have liked to spit in distaste but didn't. This blood was me, no matter how I hated it. I put the rapier in it's sheath and walked on. It was not long till I felt eyes, prowling cruel eyes. I conceived I was being followed. Again, how I knew I didn't know. It was as if the darkness, I, knew and felt every fiber similar to a thick, dark, velvet mist.

I walked on, waiting for it to face me. _There is more than one!_ I blinked and turned, I was surrounded and I felt them moving in. Automatically, my arm rouse and with it the hiss of a drawn sword. I didn't even try to be quiet and neither did they. Eerily, the wind stopped, making the growl and the sound of crunched leaves grow vivid and clear to the note.

The dark shadows cast by trees pressed down as if being weighted. I felt it on my shoulders and head constraining, a caliginous, stiffen warning. _Why did they stop?_ Endless moments passed and with each moment the shadows grew more compressing, intent on squeezing every atom of space out of me. Painfully, I felt like a spring, tightening and tightening. What were they waiting for? I asked myself. What plan were they making? My eyes grew sharper as I waited in the darkness. 

Silence.

I heard something move. Nothing yet. There was a sound of saliva dripping on the ground. They were eager but they hesitated. _Why?_ One fiend spring up in the air behind me. Impulse acted alone as I spun around and slashed with a force I didn't even know I had. 

I stood in awe of myself as I starred at the bloody heap that fell with a thump. It was overgrown wolf-like fiend who died quickly and didn't even whimper. A mysterious, confused emotion took a hold of me. It was pride, self-satisfaction, abhorrence, disgust and a certain fear that underlined all of that about what I was and did and was easily capable of being.

A monster. 

I didn't even notice the rest of the pack leaving. Maybe I had earned their respect. They seemed to be in much awe and fear of myself as I was of me.

I looked at the rapier and realized its possibility—the possibility of ending life. Did I have that right? Maybe I did—I did defend myself and therefore had.

I scrutinized the blade, glazing at it hard. Did I want to be apart of blood—the soiled thing? No. No I didn't. 

Did I have the right though? In defense, yes. But I _admired_ the blade and how it killed, as if it possessed me. There was something wrong with this weapon and it's invisible stains of blood that was so clear to my eyes. So clear, I felt the screams of the slain ones. My mind shuddered yet I didn't see my hand that held the saber quiver. 

I threw the rapier into the dirt. Immediately my headache and thirst came back with a pound. I followed the faint sound of a small stream. After I had taken my full I came back, cooked, and ate the meat of the fiend I had killed earlier. Feeling restless, I set off.

I never noticed the dark stone inlayed in the rapier and how that maniacal beat in the stone, 'kill, kill' slowed to a stop, lying in dormant, waiting for fate to lead another to it's curse of the Dark Dragoon as I looked at the sky and for the first realized the beauty of the tapestry of stars on that moonless night. 

~Muslima


	2. Dragon's Warning

Shadow Spinners

****

Chapter Two

~Lo! if we were taller then our shadows.~ 

--Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of Anne of the Green Gables ****

I watched the sun rise. I hadn't imagined the color of blood was so beautiful and twisted. The forest bathed in the treacherous, warm glow. How deceitful, that consciously this glow warmed you yet physically it did not. I starred at it in wonder, locking it in my memory. _Will this happen again? Will I ever see the like of it again? _I hoped so. I was blissfully ignorant.

It was morning now yet I did not tier. It was pleasant and clear and the beauty of the forest seemed exhilarate me in a giddy way as I walked in calmness. Plentiful were the birds—yet didn't gossip like others. They had an eerie undisturbed silence. I didn't notice nor care, how was I to know how birds acted? 

I decided I would walked beside the first stream I saw next time, I was growing thirsty again. My last drink was taken during the twilight of yesterday. 

I walked on and on. I was careful not on step into fiend's territory, it was a skill I didn't even know I had. I supposed I knew so little about myself—as if I was in other's body—which I admit, chilled me. It was an experience I wouldn't care to remember. What foolishness was I thinking about? I was myself, me—nothing would change that._ Right. Right?_ I asked myself seeking reassurance.

I reflected. 

__

No. Terribly no. A wave of coolness filled and gripped my chest as I acknowledged this; I looking down at my well wore footwear. To ease myself I presumed knowing that much about me was enough. However, inside that gnawing tooth ached to know. 

Suddenly looking up, I stopped myself before I took another step. It was silent—the whole forest. Only my steps echoed.

__

Something is wrong!

The revelation was so clear to my ears they were ringing. An immediate reflex took me to the side of caution. I hide under a tree.

__

Why? I did not know. I did not know anything. All I could do was trust myself which, oddly enough I found hard to do. 

I knew nothing yet I relied on a side of myself I knew hardly of! _Distrust—Yes, quite a jest— I even do not trust myself!_

I cleanse to mock myself. It happened so fast.

It seemed that the light across the forest dimmed. No, 'dimmed' would not be the right word. Not to describe the sudden change that occurred; a ripple of tremor and shiver that swept throughout the forest. 

Was it my imagination that suddenly everything—birds, trees, wind, grew muted in silence and suppressed a shudder? Was it my imagination that the darkness substituted the wind, like a dark gray flow of gossamer and that feeling; as it flew through a being and filled it with a cool shudder full of numbness? Was it my imagination that through that swift, phantom breeze, the air grew heavy with fear?

Was it my imagination that I thought it a shadow?

__

No.

I felt that tiny sent of life in the darkness. What could have laid such a shadow? Unconsciously I closed my eyes and asked the alien but fellow darkness. No answer, however I could feel a yearning; this thing was searching for something. _What? _But again there was no answer to my plea. 

Did I dare look up? The instinct that I had relied on so heavily answered a plain, determine "NO." 

With a solemn, intent face I looked up, through the lace of branches and leaves and what I saw sent a shiver down my spine-like a rock disturbing sedate water-and made me realize my defenseless state._ A Dragon._ A huge, jackass, mistake-of-God, Dragon.

I turned cold.

What was minutes felt like hours. _When is it going to go?_ I stiffened and didn't dare to move for caution that those sharp eyes might notice me. And I wager they would notice if they only felt the weight of my glaze so I tore my eyes away from the fascinating creature.

Then, suddenly those massive wings flapped hard—so that the trees quaked—and the creature turned a sharp half-spin and landed with boneless grace I thought till now not possible to muster in such a large beast. The magnificent dragon beamed rage and hatred that was so full of pure power that it was felt and vented off like heat waves. It took no seer of Darkness to see that.

It opened it's mouth and spoke fuming with fury and loath, booming, "YOU WILL PAY! I WILL SEEK YOU OUT! DEATH BE HORRID FOR YOU"—venomously—"HUMAN! I WILL TAKE BACK WHAT YOU STOLE! IF I DID NOT PRIZE MY POSSESSION WHICH YOU WHOLE--IF YOU WERE NOT SOMEWHERE IN MY FOREST I WOULD SEETH YOU WITH MY SMOKE ALONE AND MAKE YOU DIE SLOWLY! COME FACE ME!!!"

I covered my ears—dung myself in the ground and yet felt ever word bellowed into my very bones. Trees fell down. At last, infuriated and raging the Dragon breathed fire that lassoed into the sky like a whip. 

I had thought fire was the same color of blood and the sunrise. How mistaken I was. This fire was white. A white that was so hot it looked cool, flew like water, and didn't flicker. The beast elapsed into the air and away; sounding his bellowing voice into another part of his territory, searching. 

Delirious, I stood up on weak legs, feeling as if in a dream._ What was that!?!_ I could only be thankful of my luck. (I knew I was a human) and if that monster saw me he would have certainly put a horrible death on me without a moments thought. 

It was obvious that a human had stolen something very valuable from this dragon and this dragon had come seeking revenge. This knowledge didn't intrigue me but only made me move my legs in haste. 

__

To where? I did not know. I didn't know anything. 

All I knew was that this dragon would be more than happy--and willing to share his ample anger with a defenseless human, like myself. And that a complete lucky fool or a cunning, dangerous human being wanted by an enraged dragon was in the same area as I. 

An area I wouldn't mind to lengthen and abandon entirely between us. 

Oh, how fool-hearty I was; I didn't know I was doing the opposite.

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R2R

Lady Crysania Majere~ Yah Allah! You've made me ssooo happy! Thank YOU! I so happy you thought it was good! DarkAngelB~ ^_____* Hehehehe………Lloyd is coming alright! Hope you enjoyed this chappie too! I'll be sure to see your stories. *o* Wanderer~ 0.o Ohhhhhh…!!! I was sssooo thrilled when I first read your review. I am going to see if you have any stories! Aerena~ Thank you so much! You have no idea how that brighten my day! I adore you, you always review no matter how sticky my Legend of Dragoon stories are! Your like I sister I never had! (but I've heard their pretty mean—but you know what I mean!) I'll see if you have some more stories to review when I have some time, I promise.

~Muslima


	3. Reflections

Shadow Spinners

****

Chapter Three

~What element is our shadows made from—the same as our souls?~

--Asiyah bint Issa

The day was no longer pleasant. There was still a shiver in the air. A calm before a storm but not also literally but very clear mentally in that side of our brains we haven't mastered. Or maybe not our brains but in our soul that has a magical inborn sense, the part that we cover up more and more as we get older not wanting to listen to anything but our primitive concept of logic—this was where I recognized that impression that was so clear to me.

Clouds humbly built Cimmerian and swaged mysteriously into the sky. I climbed on high ground, silently looking over the forest. Small drafts of wind came; it was soon going to rain.

My insides ached to drink, seeing rain-filled clouds only added to the effect. I needed to find a some water or a river. The answer came sooner than what expected. I, by chance, walked upon a brook that lend to a small pond. _I am a lucky fiend,_ I thought with a grimace. 

The pond was clear, holding it's own versions of the organic structures that lurked near it. It seemed desolate as it was on one side spaced as a clearing and on the other side few short trees and bushes crowded on the pond's edge. 

I sat on this edge ready to bend down to drink. Leaning forward carefully so my hair did not block my mouth I lowered my hand to dip—suddenly I saw a movement. Surprised, I jerkily moved back. _Did I just see another being?!_

Ready to jump back and fight, hesitatingly I pressed on myself to move forward, telling myself to glanced into the water. Slightly frowning, I levelly glazed at the surface. As I blinked, the being did the same. As I moved my hand in swiping gesture, it did the same. Puzzled but for only a moment something came to mind. _It is me. _Why, it was my reflection. _Great,_ _more shadows to follow me._

Intent, I lend forward and ducked my head into the water. The being that was me disappeared. Lifting my now wet head, I was done with my experiment._ A curious thing… _was my thought as I peered at my reflection. I could only suppose this was my outer image. No cross of emotion, no visual stamp said my thoughts or said I was thinking on this face. 

My face was pretty even though it was wet. Maybe being wet had just increased the appeal but I didn't waste a thought on that. Dark walled eyes looked back at me whereas another might see a reflecting light of their soul. I gravely glanced at myself but than soon became bored. My reflection had distracted me from my loneliness if for but a moment and it came back even worst now that I had felt what it was like without the undesirable feeling.

I tried to reach out to my reflection as I did with darkness, apart of me needing so severely and greatly for it to reach out to me in return; apart of me needing to know I wasn't alone.

But life doesn't change with a_ need_.

__

You are being a fool you are making yourself weak. "Why don't you reply!" My thought was a contemptible, miserable, angst shout but my spoken word came out an in monotone whisper, like a faraway wind…lost, unheard. So different from my thoughts. It was then I learned I was to keep to myself—to reply levelly when inside thinking fanatically. 

I had never thought to speak, this ability to make noise, a sound into the world. It intrigued me. Though as if I wasn't alone trapped in my own mind. I entered a new realm shutting the door behind to go to a expanse and novel world. The change felt amicable. I now had the refilling feeling of the capability of revealing and concealing. Small—yes, but nevertheless a power.

The air had a warm inhuman tang to it, the storm was waiting. I got up and traveled by the stream. I was on full alert; the heaviness in the air grew. My legs tiered so I stopped to rest. _Sounds?_ For a moment I froze detecting where the noise was from…and carefully climbed up on a thick, dark tree. From the sounds it sounded large. I was indefensible, open. I wasn't eager to meet a large fiend. But if necessary I would face it. _No…there is more than one._

For a fiend it's fairly loud. Fiends, partially large ones had to be swift and silent in a forest. Especially if there was a pack, eminently this already silent forest. A thought grew a lump in my throat, _What if one of the fiends smells me out?_

__

Ask the darkness, maybe it can cover my scent. I did. However, before I could tell if it worked a "fiend" came into view. Indeed, it was no fiend but creature—_A horse—_and a clothed…human? 

It started to rain. The human, a large man, grunted. "Told ye there's water." He pointed to the stream obviously to another.

Another pair came right below me. The rider on this horse was slim and the horse itself was a gray mare in contrast to the thick-bearded, rounded fellow and his tanned horse. 

I was grateful to the darkness for it had covered my scent or the horses would have noticed me. The rider lifted a bag and put it near the base of the tree that was near the two horses who were now grazing heavily on the tall grass. He took a flask from his sack to fill it up with the water of the brook. A glint captured my eye. It came from the bag. There was a large dagger. Not as long as the cursed rapier I threw away I had thrown away without regret. 

This dagger had a dull emerald in the pommel and a worn metallic cross-guard. Impulse told me to take it but discretion was first. He—I guessed the second human was a male—might notice it missing. And these people might be the human the dragon inquired for.

Below the dagger was a cloak, the rain dutifully reminded me I was in lack of one. _Perhaps, I can take that-? No, now it's too late, the humans must be coming back. _I couldn't see through the branches so I could only guess. I had no covet to face the humans, they might be even more dangerous then a fiend twice their size. Instinct told me never to underestimate a possible foe. 

Right enough, the bulky man put a thick blanket on top of him and the lanky male came back and rested on the truck of the tree. Did slumber overtake him? Thinking, I suddenly felt tried. Rain that soaked through the tree rhythmically fell on my cheek. _I'll just rest…a little…._

Startled, I woke up. _How long did I go to sleep?_ I was almost bemused. My face had been lying on the truck of the tree. I felt flushed and tried to lick my perched lips and mouth, I must have slept with my mouth open. My dark, wet hair stuck to my cheek. The once pouring rain was now a weak drizzle. Discomfort didn't bother me in the least it was my next thought—_ What woke me? _

Thoughts came back, _The humans._ I looked down the slim one wasn't there. From the corner of my eye I saw a movement from between the branches where they weren't as thick. The gray horse had straighten, ears perked up. _Something caused him to be alert._ The heavy man was already saddled and his comrade was looking forward; in a stance I knew well but couldn't place. It was when I saw his hand on a hilt of a sword that was no longer hidden by his cloak that I realized it. _He is on guard position—something is coming._

I glanced down, searching for the bag with my eyes. Sure enough, it was there. A time like this was as good as any; the two men was distracted and something or someone was coming—maybe a fiend. I wouldn't be armless any longer. 

Carefully and swiftly I slipped down and grabbed both the dagger and the cloak. And slid it on, out of sight behind the tree. Armed, I was discreetly please that I was so soundless that the humans' horse didn't notice, with a dagger in my hand I felt I had recovered something.I couldn't help it—didn't want to help it, but I felt eager to fight.

__

What— How did I not notice? There was something behind me. Turning swiftly dagger in hand…why it was a boy! I stopped myself one moment earlier from sealing his life. The boy looked at me with alien eyes; they were pleading—pleading, to take his life. 

A flashback—a sense of deja vu hit. As soon as it came it left. Hadn't I felt the same, that I wanted to die? Those once pleading, crying, soft with misery once alien eyes were now so familiar. Why--? I would probably never know. 

'Please,' he mouthed. I looked at the small boy's bond hands; he was a slave. He was covered with dirt. He looked like an old man and yet he had that spark. There was no fear in his eyes—they were hopeless, yes but they revealed the only sign of his spirit; passionate determination. He didn't blackmail me saying if I didn't do as he said he would reveal me—not that I would even listen and perhaps he knew that too. Maybe that's what made up my mind.

I sliced through his rope bonds to the tree. 

"Come," I whisper in a barely audible voice. I didn't need to say it twice. The boy was clumsy as a result of his weakness. I could easily see he hadn't eaten in a long time. 

I glanced back at the two men. The slim lowered his hand but it still lingered near his sword. There was no fiend. It seemed a stranger had entered the camp. The stranger was totally cloaked and hooded which only revealed a strong, beardless jaw. Only lords went beardless and had the time to shave. 

There was something familiar in the way he carried himself. But before I lagged on the thought, I moved making sure the boy followed me. The gray evening was so quite; if you breathed to hard it seemed everything could hear you. 

I thought for a faction of a moment that the curious hooded man had glanced or looked in our direction as we—I and the boy, slipped away. _Of course,_ I thought,_ I was just imaging things._ For I had no proof that he did see… 

His eyes were covered in the shadow of his hood.

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R2R

Muslima's note, "Thank you so much for the pleasant reviews, feel free to criticize! Remember, this is for you guys. I want to get better and want you to enjoy the story!" (Example: Rose needs to act more serous, etc.) 

DarkAngelB~ Ooohhhh…!!! I am so thrilled you like it! *Kisses*--not really but you get what I'm saying right? ^_* Lady Crysania Majere~ Your opinion is always important! I'm quite flattered your enjoying this!! ^^ Kikaiyu~ *Beaming with joy* I really hope you've enjoyed it so far as you've enjoy the first chapters! I'll try to update as soon as I can but I'm also busy with another story called Steel Eyes (a Tamora fic) but I had to write this chapter before I started on the next chapter of that story. Lady Wolf Moon~ I really, really hope you like this chappie. I've read your stuff, great job. 

Aerena~ LOLz, I am pleased you like it. Hope you like this chapter as well. Rosers live forever! (2 much sugar…) SorsX~ Boy… I feel pressured! I am praying this well come out well! Thanx for reviewing I feel better. Kikaiyu~ Well, you have to wait another chappie for Lloyd. Sorri'd!

Muslim 4 Life~ Salaam! Thanx 4 the music thingy! Could you email me?


	4. Fated Chains

Shadow Spinners

**Chapter Four**

~Does the Walker choose the Path, or the Path the Walker?~

                                                                                                                                --Garth Nix, author

I was small, young. My black hair only reached half way to my back. My hands had the unnatural roughness due to the burden of hard work. But they didn't have the tiny yet numeral scars from the work with swords. 

Then it dawned on me as if it was the most natural thing in the world; I was a slave. 

Physics sometimes never matters, especially when it's a dream, when they change completely. Or was I in a dream? I couldn't tell—everything felt so real.   

I was young again. Innocence but not naïve. How can you be naïve when you live in a world that is ruled by Winglys, injustice—in a world of slavery? I went through my motions like in a dream, as if I had been doing them all my life. 

I waited on a lady standing for hours in the cold, dark corridor, just outside her door, waiting for a snap of her fingers that signaled that she wanted something from me. My legs were strong after nine years of doing this yet my legs ached of cold prompting me however strong my legs were, that I was still only eleven winters.

And I was one of the lucky ones, I constantly reminded of myself thus, for if I was caught resting I would be beaten--and if Aukus was in the mood—whipped. 

It was summer but I was cold stiff. Ice-cool drifts came repeatedly as I stood in shadows, my bones aching to the marrow with cold. The lady was probably practicing her magic. Winglys of high chaste were known for their ability not just with magic but with Water and Ice Gifts that seemed to match their hearts and glares. 

Once when I was about the age of five, there was a rumor about a stone—or gem that gave higher abilities of such a Gift. The story was long since dead but the popularity of Ice Gifts continued to grow. _Damn Ice Gifts—all Gifts! I thought shivering. _Curse magic—_I thought in disgust but stopped. Some Winglys were said to have the Gift of Sight. If they could see my thoughts…._

I stopped myself once again. We weren't encouraged to think, us slaves. It surprised me this helped my problem, not to think. Not to think about all the tortures and horrors Winglys put you through if you were 'thought' to be a rebel or helping one.

Finally, it was night. Relieved of my shift I was thankful to walk to my shallow barracks, which I called home. Stars shown brightly—but I never noticed stars and they me. However, tonight something caught my attention; a shooting star. Wingly priestesses who study the stars (for the goddess of night could only be served by females) often said that shooting stars were fallen phoenixes who were pierce by Soa's arrow and falling to earth as punishment for trying to overhear Her plan of the future.

_What is my future? Slavery?—No. I'll escape as soon as I get a chance,_ I vowed. My thoughts drifted to other things: _Why would a phoenix risks it's life?_ That question did puzzle me. Phoenixes often kept to themselves; intelligent yet reclused, gallant creatures, at least in the myths I would overhear.

Leaving the question unanswered, I pondered which entrance I should go through. Yeori, a hard-faced woman, often scowled me and caught me entering from the front. From the back, whereas it was prohibited, I would escape the witch who boxed my ears when she felt like it and slip into bed—hopefully unnoticed._ Hopefully._ There was so little to hope for now—I could plainly see it in the adults' eyes.  

Quietly as I could muster, I sneaked around the barracks. 

A small, humble movement from the corner of my eye startled me. A woman! I blinked. An old woman. She was in a huddle, coat over her and thin white hair poking out from a rough scarf. "Water…" she faltered in a weak, flushed voice.

"One moment," I promised. Hurriedly, I walked to the back of the barracks. This was why we were forbidden to be here—there was a tiny food storage and a pump that we were told we used too often and therefore were restricted from using more than what our owners thought necessary. Certainly for an old women it was necessary?

I already knew the answer: No. Because when a slave or one below the chaste grew old and worthless they were… taken away. Nerves getting the better of me I fumbled around looking for a utensil, worrying what would happen if Yeori found me. _No, I wouldn't think about it._ I found a can and filled it with water from the pump.  

"Here." The old women weakly drank and than turned up her eyes and stared. In a beastly world where everyone tried to fend for themselves there had never been time for thanks and I didn't expect it.

The woman's face was old, very old. Her wrinkles seemed to be craved into her skin. And yet—and yet, she was beautiful. Such kind eyes I had never seen before. Her being seemed grace and timidly wild but not like dear but like a torrent bird. 

"Thank you," she said in a pure original accent I couldn't pinpoint.

I blinked, amazed. "You are a slave here?" I nodded. She leaned back, as if weaken by some invisible wound. She was pale, I realized she was going to die. "I know your name child," she said between a shifted gasp. "I know all about you."

I stood there, unable to say something. So many thoughts crowded my head. "Remember… remember…" she stared into my eyes; I unable to look away. "You are only free to serve the chains of fate that bind you..." 

 "No," I corrected, as something all-knowing spoke through me. This women who had won my admiration for her kindness now couldn't fall to despair. Heavy words rolled from the depths of my heart, rolling and dropping off my felt-tongue like solids, "You are free to sever the chains of fate that bind you; is it not the walker that chooses the path?" I asked, identifing with a familiar Wingly proverb.

The old woman smiled a bittersweet smile. I would never forget that smile. Was it of this world—even human?  It was as if she looked at me, burning my own eyes with her own and could see my hatred for all things related to Winglys—including their beliefs of fatalism. I never knew that because of their losing fight with fatalism that I would be condemned to be an Immortal—indeed worst than death. But that again, is another story.   

"They said you would say that," were her last words. She died with that smirk and leer. Soon she grew transparent, her corpus turning into a phoenix and than the phoenix soon disappearing into the sky like incense only to be reborn in the it's endless cycle….

I woke. My eyes seemed blur, which happens when you are woken from an all-too-real-a-dream. Spots faded and the stars overhead came into focus. 

_"You are free to sever the chains of fate that bind you…"_

The words echoed in my mind, mocking me. Over and over like a song within my pulse. I remembered little of the dream—only what seemed important to my unconscious mind.

_"You are free to sever the chain of fate that bind you…"_

I blinked. Something was on my forehead. It was heavy. What was it? 

"Sshhh…" whisper a breath between teeth, as if to lull a small child.

_Who?_ My hand instinctively went to my dagger. Oddly—and maybe not so oddly, I was comforted by it's presence. It's aura surging through my hand, knowing if I was in danger I could defended myself. 

A clothed, wet rag was on my forehead. I remembered feeling very tried when I came to lay here. My last memory was licking my parched lips with my dry tongue, my head pounding as I blinked my eyes and unknowingly went to sleep.

"You were asleep, Master, you was sick." That voice, I hadn't heard it before but it sounded like a child. 

"I am no one's master," I said in my monotone voice as I struggled to conceal my difficulty in getting  up. _I am not even my own master._ My shoulders felt abnormally heavy, weighted with the cloak. I finally got up and found myself facing a pair of burning amber's, that I realized in a twinkling, that those were really eyes. Those amber eyes belonged to the former slave I had freed. 

Roaring was in the background; it was the sea, its view was blocked by trees, we were at the edge of the forest. I had followed the stream that soon became a river and emptied into the sea. 

The boy insisted I was his Master. He was still dirty, I had said if he thought I was his master than I ordered him to wash in the sea. He did. His skin was tanned, a similar color to his eyes. I guessed he was about seven summers old. I gave him the last of the dry meat that I got from the friend I had killed. Now that he didn't look like an old man I had said that if he thought I was he master than I ordered him to not believe I was his master and go away.

I walked in a different direction. Silently the boy followed me like a shadow. I ignored his presence. That is—until he hissed inhumanly. "Your bein' followed," he said in hushed tones. "Someone is  coming, that it is."  

We hid in the brush, I unshielded my dagger. For a moment I thought I heard something. A human? No too quiet. _Maybe a basilisk. Those breasts had a liking to me, I had fought four before. All I could do was wait. The boy lightly tapped my hand but my keen eyes had already spotted it._

Or rather him.

For it was the hooded lord that I had seen before—he stepped onto the path lending to an inn I had recently noticed, clearly unaware of us. 

He was too quiet for a human. I didn't know I was right, for he was no human.

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R2R

Muslima's Note (or excuse): Sorry this took so long. I made this chapter a bit longer then the others and I had originally typed this on another computer so I had to go to Walmart to buy a floppy (God bless Walmart!) Then my Grandma came over for a week. ****

**Lloyd Lover's: **I plan to have him in the next chappie *squeals* I think you'll like it!!! *_^

SorsX~Thank you!! I am going to check up on your stories after I am done with this, thank for reviewing _Steel Eyes_ I updated. LCM~Sorry for getting this out so late. You have great stories (the feeling of worthlessness is coming on again) . Kikaiyu~I love your stories! They are AWESOME how do you do it? *envy* ~_~ Aerena~Thanx so much I'm flattered *.* DarkAngelB~Great story I condemn you to update your story, where are all ur reviews?! (j/k) Thanx ever so much for reviewing (& liking) _Death's Side_. Just because of you I might just update!

~Muslima

              .


	5. Red

Shadow Spinners

**Chapter Five**

~Do they not look at Allah's creation, (even) among (inanimate) things, how their (very) shadows turn round, from right to left, prostrating themselves to Allah, and that in the humblest of manner?~

--Koran, Ch. 16: verse 48 (Translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali)

My nose flared as I took all the smells in. _Food… I looked up at the inn, it's lights that blared in the night. It was made of wood, masking the building into the forest itself. Trees veiled the inn that was set on top if a large hill. I realized the tavern was within a small settlement of a human village._

In the midst of the darkness of the starlit night the sea roared; echoing in the distance within my ears with—almost forlornness... 

Done observing the structure I looked behind me, the queer boy was gone. _Gone? It seemed hard for me to think the young boy that had followed me with such a persistent (seemingly) loyalty and stubborn face was gone. _What do I care?_ Maybe the notion that I was his master left his thick skull. Nevertheless, I had finally gotten rid him._

I again started walking to the tavern, wary of the faint manmade track but in spite of that walked on the widening path that soon lend to the village. The dim noises of cheer, merriment and the low rumble of voices from the inn became clearer and louder with each step.  

Suddenly, the noises roared in my head. I felt myself consumed in flames. Freezing cold flames—my legs buckled. I fell to my knees. My breath came out raspy as beaded sweat on my forehead fell to the ground before me. _I must be sick—No just a spell. _

I restricted myself only few minutes more to recover from my "spell". My head boomed and pealed. Gradually my breath came slower. I let the wind caress my face; the low chime of rustling leaves. 

I made my flimsy legs sturdy and walked on. Soon, I came to the desolate street. I made sure my clock covered me fully. I put my weapon within a position so it would be easy to get at. I had a feeling I would need it.

I walked in the tavern, the light blinded me for a moment. Most didn't concern themselves with me. It seemed that they were accustomed to strangers. Only a few stopped talking to stare only to continue their doings as beforehand. The noise was so loud, compared to the silent forest I'd been for so long. However, soon my ears become attuned.

"Wish for an' room?" the man behind the counter asked.

I nodded no. I had coins in a pocket within the cloak but I had no idea of their value. And I had no desire to be cheated or to make myself suspicious.

I sat at small table among shadows; I felt eyes on my back. 

Suddenly a waitress with golden curls and dimples walked up to me. "Compliments from the man at the corner, sir." She sat a tumbler in front of me, flashing her white teeth. "And a note," she said as an afterthought. She put her hands on her hips and pointed with her thumb at the benefactor as a neatly folded piece of paper floated and landed before me.

I didn't know that paper was a rare and valuable thing, especially one of this quality, and that a literate person was even more so for the waitress, behind that flashy smile, looked into my hood that revealed nothing. Her blue eyes burned with suspicion.

I glanced up to the dark corner that the waitress's thumb had pointed toward. _The hooded lord_; I saw that strong jaw curved by a smirk.

I opened the note and read:

_I have been waiting for you. Took you long enough. _

Who? What? I looked back to the corner, he wasn't there.

"Damn! We got stolen' from, we did." It was the round man from earlier before that I now nickname Bulky and his lean friend whom I called Skinny. He was talking to the man behind the counter.

"Where were thee when it happen? What got nipped?" the balding man inquired. "Would you like another?"

"Yes, Scotch this time—Oh, yes. It was the old kooky dagger I had show ye before and a that pleasant cloak that had quite a few coins in it's pockets. Like that cloak I did…" Skinny had eerily stayed quiet. Some of the men turned around to listen; I had stopped listening. I had to make a retreat before they grasped the knowledge that _I_ was wearing their stolen items. And I did not want to wait until they grasped my neck.  

I was out the door; the cool wind soothed my body. The shadows here were natural and strong and didn't flicker on some fire's whim.

"Thief, you think you can get away so easily?" I turned around hand clasped on my dagger. The thin, lean tall man, Skinny suddenly grimaced; before he was playfully curious. To me he looked like a corpus when he smiled.

In truth, I wanted a fight. The breasts here were easy but then again human were breasts. I just hoped better skilled. However, that inborn sense told me no, it was wrong to kill. Wrong, for pleasure. I put down my hand from the weapon. I would only fight if he striked first. But I let my hand ling dangerously near the blade. 

I stared at his torso, when he wanted to move that body part would show which way. He silently unsheathed his sword. I reached into the darkness because I believed I felt another being. I could feel the warm body heat; it was the heavy round man, Bulky. He was planning to ambush me. It was like a game a pack plays.

I knew their move—juvenile compared to any fiend in the forest. I wonder how they got through, unless they have something else.

I was right, they did have something else. Skinny tried to slash me from the right but them threw something at me from the left. A magical item.  I dodged it but then I had to think about Bulky, for he jumped and was ready to drive a knife into my back. I evaded him too. He fell flat on the ground, knocked out.

_Fool._ "Idoit." One word spoken, monotone or not, they knew who I was: a woman. 

Skinny took up his sword and slashed. I took up my dagger and met him with a clash. I had to blink my eyes: the dagger had just turned into a full-length sword! The once dim and dull emerald at it's cross-guard was now bright and mystically glinting, like an eye of a dragon winking in tease. 

I searched for an opening—_There!_ Where he raise his sword trying to bore on me. I work my sword down, under and up catching the opponent's hilt and yanking the weapon out of his hand. Knocking Skinny down, I put cold steel against his neck. "Stupid. Stupid in trying to attack an opponent that's skilled in arts you'll never master." My eyes and voice were icy and callous; I almost felt anger at this fool. 

The moon shined its glorious, full face then hid under its veil of clouds before the 'intelligent' one realized I had the upper hand.         

I kept my sword at the fool's neck, I suppose he knew what would happened if he moved for he stayed quite still and didn't jump up to retrieve his weapon. Or perhaps he was just scared. "Try something once more and I'll do something permanent." I let him go and left Bulky on the ground. 

"You held back." The words were spoken in my ear, almost nuzzling it. Deep, warm words that sounded familiar unlined with not quite laughter but inquiry as to 'why'. Such an emotion startled me; I had never felt familiarity around anything before. However, I kept my face stone and turned expecting to see someone behind me. But that someone, with amazing speed whirled into the shadows of the forest. Was he trying to pick a fight?

He stepped out of the shadows. _The hooded lord._ I immediately brought up my sword; ready to fight as an inborn resentment grew.  

"A magic sword?" There was obvious mockery in his voice. "Your not the only one." And with that he brought up a sword consume in flames that mysteriously acted as blades. 

He held himself and his blade in a stance of speed. My mind calculated and found a tactic. _Speed equals evading and quick but small strikes. _My line would have to be to attack and defense—slow but extra cautiousness.

Suddenly, he opened his hand and a wind-like force whirled me into a tree. _Magic, he has magic,_ was my thought before nettles of pain shot though my body and my breath was taken. He charged at me and it occurred to me that he was flying. 

_But no matter._ As he speed towards me with that flaming sword I knew I couldn't dodge him I would have to attack. _Three, Two… One!_ I lashed out my sword in the artful way with the most damage. 

And… it stopped. The lord was in midair, still floating an inch off the dirt floor. My point was against his abdominal; with one swift move I knew how to hunt this man down so that he felt nothing but pain. Nevertheless, his point was against my throat, the flames of his sword licked me but did not burn. 

We stood there for endless moments in the dark. Waiting. Daring not to breath. 

Once again the moon shined, revealing the landscape in its eerie yet graceful light. But it also revealed my opponent and I. His hood fell. And I found myself staring into warmth, heat, an inferno of flames—staring down upon me. And with a start, I realized I was staring into his eyes. What was that color--? 

_Red._     

Foolishly, that was the last thought I was thinking before I was once consumed in icy wind and bitter cold flames as I fell into darkness. 

Expecting to crash into the ground. Expecting cold steel to lash me through. Expecting to feel endless pain till thee eternal darkness came. But, it didn't come.

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R2R

The Matriarch Mavina~I am so pleased that you enjoy my writing. I mean like, "WOW." I love you! Omni Dragon~Yeah! So kool—you like it! Mawahahahahaa!! That's shows my family—they think I'm a literary idiot. LOLz. LCM~You love Garth Nix!? Yeah, join the club. I liked the quote and I'm glad I'm not the only one. just a reader~Yes! ^___^ I'm so thrilled!!! I really dislike too much mushy stuff and I'm relieved I don't have too much. How were the fighting parts in this chapter? Keep me posted, tell me if it goes off the deep end. *_^ DarkAngelB~ What did you think of Lloyd in this chappie—were you pleased or bored. How were the fight scenes??? Aerena~Ah! Death's Side! It's on the other computer, all typed up! I forgot to post it up. Insh-Allah, I'll get to it. . OK? **_(*Hint, Hint*)_** I'm not done with the 'freaky' little boy yet…. Sors~Well, **Steel Eyes **was updated twice. If you haven't read the new chapter—your welcomed to! I am trying to finish that fic first, you know? Then I plan to work on this fic then **Death's Side**. Insh-Allah (God-willing) it'll workout. Kikaiyu~LOLz, I am delighted you liked Rose's past thingy! I had it all painted in my mind. It was inspired by a book so I can't take all the credit. ^______^

~Muslima


	6. Unwanted Surprises

Shadow Spinners

Chapter Six 

~He who does not look upon things with the eye of insight is lost and to be blamed.~

--Sayyid Jamal ad-Din (Translated by Nikki R. Keddie)

I was vaguely awake. The first thing I was dimly aware of was myself. I felt I was almost bouncing around and the sense of discomfort was strong along with a faint dizziness. Then there was the almost rhythmical "cluck, cluck". It took me a moment to realize it was a sound of a horse walking.

I could sense shadows of trees on my face. _I must be moving,_ was my first complete thought. My eyes tried to flutter open however; the shadows escaped my eyes and were met with piercing sunlight. At this I involuntarily winched.

Groggily, I fully woke up. My head was set on someone's strong shoulder.  "Awake are we?" At the sound of that familiar male voice the memories came at a charge and I sat up so suddenly, startled, that I felt a bolt of pain rush up my leg, not in nettles of pain but it came in a blast. I hissed agonizingly. My head ringed.

"You have an infection on your leg, you'd best lean on me for the rest of the ride as you have been doing when you were asleep," said the white haired one indifferently. I glanced at my bandaged bare leg; it was put over his leg so it would be leveled. We were riding a big strawberry brown stallion with chestnut hair.

Through squinted eyes I studied my surroundings, I was in an alien forest and within the horizon mountain peaks touched the sky. "I will take leave of you even though I don't understand why you helped me," I stated. I stretched out my arms. "But you have my thanks."

"I don't believe you have a choice," he replied evenly, looking ahead.

"Many believe what they wish to believe," I said dangerously, as I instinctively reached for the dagger, which was no longer there within a cloak that was no longer there either.

"True. Woe to the one that believes no logic however, I believe you will agree that you are in no position to define me. You are wounded, sick and have not thee slightest notion where here is." He did have an air about him as he was riding that was confident (so I could guess he knew where he was going). But as he talked, his voice wasn't arrogant but monotone that matched my own yet oddly warm with spirit and yet oddly cold, like a puppet. 

I threw out such thoughts as I grew in anger; I could do nothing—for now. "What do you want?" I inquired, as if what he revealed to me meant nothing, without the air of haughtiness.

"What do I want? Ah, that… will be a mystery—among many others." He stated this to the sky rather then me.

"What do you want of me?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me. I knew I would escape. The sky suddenly seem to darken, it was getting late.

"That you will learn in time. The question is not what _I_ want—now. For now, it is another mystery." I pondered over the remark when the hooded lord stated we would be resting under a cluster of trees next to a stream for the rest of the night. 

When the lord got me off the horse, he watched every movement. Before I planned to act as if I couldn't walk at all so he would underestimate me but the problem was I _couldn't_ walk at all. How _did_ I get hurt so badly?! 

Now that I thought back on the fight all I basically remembered was _Red_ and a blur of pain. 

As I thought, the lord started a fire. For long moments, he stared into the flames. Eyes blurry and confused, face intent as if looking, searching for something. His straight, white hair lightly moved smoothly within the breeze. His eyes were aglow—with passionate zeal and yet they somehow darkened those red eyes—but in almost… I tried to find a word that justified this familiar feeling that I had within myself. _Remorse._

How odd, he stared with fervor but… there was this coldness of indifference that caused in him in almost pain. No, with absolute agony. _How ironic,_ I thought quietly to myself. _We are both inflicted with the same plague and yet we are enemies._

How odd, I learned more about myself than I ever hoped to just by staring into this man's eyes. 

And he was staring back. I flinched. I glanced at the fire it was dieing, how long had it gone untended? 

I went under a blanket he had passed to me before and uneasily thought back.It was as I had sat there staring with rapture that I had realized something that I had before unconsciously noted—something that now came to my full attention. _He has no shadow._

As I looked into the darkness with absorbed eyes but not seeing I question myself, _Who is he?_

Maybe I could escape. _No I can't, not now. I have to wait for the right time. _To my surprise I saw a slight movement in the blackness. I suppose the lord didn't see it for I hear not a thing but songs of the forest's creatures.

I reached out into the darkness as I laid down with my eyes unseeing or closed—I did not know. Like felt velvet and thick air I searched within. _Body heat_—from the degree that meant the creature was large. There were other things like bugs but I blocked them out so I wouldn't get distracted. 

I could feel the shape and in my mind a drawing came out, in the end I realized who it was. The golden slave boy that I had freed. He had followed me.

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R2R     

Note: When Muslima was writing this it was about 5 in the morning and she was high on the sugar of the tea she took so she would be awake. It shows you Muslims don't need drug and alcohol—we can get drunk and high off tea!  

Lady Crysania Majere~ WOW. 0_o That totally amazes me—THANK YOU SO MUCH LOYAL ONE!!!! Your like such a great writer and you like my stuff. Allah-u-Abar!!! Hell yeah!!! ^0^ Candace~ Kool… Thanx so much--KOOL!!! I'm ssooo glad you enjoyed it!! Have any suggestions? Open ears await. Omni Dragon~ I love you, steadfast companion! How did you like the chappie? Confused, hopeful, etc? Kikaiyu ~Thanx that's how I write and that's why I like to do it. I like expressing sensations. That's why I kinda like to read I was so amazed that people were so like. When I younger I thought it was only me that flinched in the night, in my sleep if I had that queer weightless sensation. Sors ~LOLz, You never fail to cheer me up. I updated **Steel Eyes** if you wanted to know. Aerena ~Yeah, Lloyds awesome. So you liked the fighting scene? I wasn't sure about cause it was one the first times I tried something like that.DarkAngelB ~Yes, I' said it once I'll say it again—Lloyds awesome. AND you liked the fight scene? OMG I'm so happy! Yea! 

Yes, I know I took hella long to update before but it's summer, so forgive me (I also had a few fics to pick up). I heard about DoL 2 and how Sony was trying to keep it secret but I didn't hear about it being on PS3. That's so stupid, buying PS2 made I broke for 3 months but they know they'll sell… 

~Muslima

~Muslima


	7. Danger

Shadow Spinners

Chapter Seven 

~Peace is but a shadow of death, /Desperate to forget it's painful past... /Though we hope for promising years/After shedding a thousand tears, /Yesterday's sorrow constantly nears. /And while the moon still shines blue, /By dawn it will turn a scarlet hue.~

-- Kuja (FFIX)

Why had that boy followed me? Or was he following the hooded lord? How long had he been doing so? Was he on my side that he hid in the darkness—out of sight of the red-eyed one? Or did he think I couldn't see him, as well, and was seeking his own purposes? I raked my brain for any thoughts. None.

But one thing was clear, and sense alone didn't have to tell me that I had gotten caught in a bigger net than I thought I knew.

I coughed once. My head felt flushed and I felt oddly warm. I took the blanket off of me. I felt too tired—too weak to ignore the pain in my leg any longer. It throbbing pulse no longer pounded in my leg however, also pounded in my head like a hammer. I coughed again—and then again.

I fell into a lake of darkness and numbing pain.

Hurt. It was all around me like water. _I'm not dead._ But it was so peaceful. When I looked up I saw a blur. Inside, I didn't want to leave this pond. _Don't summon me…_

I still rose. Sounds smacked me like a fist and I weakly opened my eyes. A disoriented image came to mind. I saw, I think, a worried face. When I blinked again and saw that familiar face with that careless, monotone expression. _A trick of the mind,_ I thought subconsciously.

"Lie down," he ordered. I had no strength to fight him so I obeyed.

A cool gel soothed through my body. It was so cool and it stung in delight. With it a sense of swelling energy filled me—enough so that I could see what he doing. His eyes closed peacefully, his brow slightly at a grimace in concentration and his hair faintly damp. _He's sweating? Why is he doing this? If you're going to try to take someone against their will they don't need to be kind…. _

As if he heard my thoughts, he opened his eyes and pulled his hand away. The lord's eyes were a pulsing red but there was a glazed look. He held his head in his hands for a moment. I was so bewildered, why had he done that? Why had he weakened himself? It wasn't as if I would die—just pain. Not even the animals in the forest displayed compassion in such a way. I without shame I openly stared.

_Remember, everything that is done by a human is for the human,_ said the side of me which I found so hard to trust. I looked away and closed my eyes. _He wants to gain my trust, why?_

So many doubts, so many questions… _I must be strong in the face of them. _Recovering his facial he got up and walked to the fire, away from me. There seemed to be a side effect to the healing magic because I fell into a dreamless sleep.

"My lord." A dream?_ The sound of a horse's hoof._ I woke. Through heavy eyelids I saw a messenger get off a tall mount. The slight moonlight illuminated the scene with a dim halo. The stream was splashed and ran, so clear and fresh to the note. The grass moved on the whim on the wind faintly whispering within the air.  

"Haroun? I had not expected you so early," said the silhouette of the lord getting up from the stream.

The voice was out of breath, so unknown and upsetting to the serene scene. "You were right, my lord—we found a piece of the Old Moon… Raybin's army…!" The voice was in distressed and there was a fear underlined that etched itself my brain. My vision slowly started to blur, shadows deepened and swirl till I heard no more and once again fell asleep with that terror in that voice echoing deeply into my ears.      

Later, I slowly woke up on my own account. It was an hour or so before dawn. It was cold, moist and that morbid mist laid thick on the forest floor. Something was… off. _The fog is just stuck in my ears, _I thought. The mist _did_ make it feel as though I had stuffed my ears.

"Mist…" I tasted the word with my tongue, clear-cut and crisp. Odd, the way things sounded when you said them.    

It was then I knew the problem: silence. An unholy silence. 

The mist seemed to lay heavier on my shoulders. Not one chirp, screech, or scream of a fiend that had played on last night. Tension gripped every muscle. A cold chill went down my spine. I felt bare—naked. 

It was a raging quiet.       

Suddenly, something gripped my shoulder. "Shh…" It was the hooded man; I swallowed a yell of surprise. The voice whispered softly and comfortably in my ear as I tingled—to my disapproval. However, he wasn't hooded anymore; he didn't even have his cloak. It seemed if he had the dark cloak on he would be easy to spot in the thick miasma. His arms were bare but for an odd vest and he wore boots and leggings.

He seemed so familiar! "We need to get out of here quietly, if you want to live do as I say." His breath was warm on my neck it made me notice how cold I really was. The chill ran up my spine.

A screech filled the sky and my heart ceased to pound. The breath on my neck stopped. A long moment we stood frozen, wanting to run. The sky was dark. This ear splitting shriek was not of a beast. It was bigger.

Another scream. It was louder—and closer.     

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R2R 

DarkAngelB~You crack me up (thank God I'm in one piece). Yeah, the sit does that a lot it's stupid. As for the movie, I luv it! Blissfully happy you enjoy it!!! (Boy, that sounds stupid—but you get want I mean, right??) Sors~I didn't update my other story yet, InshAllah I will. I just need a break. Did you like the cliffy? LOLz, please don't kill me! Aerena~"Monkey"—LOLz last night I was watching the movie **National Security**. It's hella funny. Thank you, I didn't really know about the battle scene. And yes, I love you too! ^__^jAcKie~WOW, thanx. You've totally boasted up my small ego!! More peeps are reading this!! Lady Crysania Majere~Yeah!! Hehe! (You don't know the extent of my smile right now!) Thanks ssoo much! & U R a great writer!! After this InshAllah I'm going to see if you updated!! Kikaiyu~LOLz, that's funny. You have a sense of humor. ^^

~Muslima


	8. Monster's Shadow

Shadow Spinners

Chapter Eight 

"Life is to live in such a way as not to be afraid to die."

--St. Teresa of Avila

Silence. Silence. My heart thumped without pace. _Scream._ I wanted to scream. _Scream._ This silence was going to drive me mad. "It is a spell. Fight it," the red-eyed one said breathlessly, trying to breath without betraying himself. He was shiny with sweat, hair damp—ironic in contrast to the cold mist.

I couldn't breath. I was going to scream. My throat closed up. I felt an unbearable heat, fire licking me, hurting. _Don't scream…don't…. _I couldn't think anymore. I bit my tongue; I felt blood ink in my mouth, like poison. One order in my head: _Scream_. I was already weak, from wound and sickness. It was overwhelming. _Scream._ The chant refused to end. Madness took a hold of me—just a second but alas, that was enough to send us to our doom. My mouth opened. Pain escaped me, penetrating the air around me. My ears were pierced in agony.

It stopped short. A gloved hand glued itself to my mouth. "You _Fool_." However, I heard the relief in that voice under that venomous scorn, a silent thank you that the owner hated to hear himself say. A roar replied in return, a scream of a vigor and evil triumphant.

It had succeeded. That monster knew where we were.

Such realization and knowledge dawned on us in fear. That monster was a dragon. The same dragon that I had sighted before._ Maybe it will miss us in the mist,_ I thought—I hoped. It came upon us in its magnificent form. However, this time its intelligent eyes were fixed on us. On me.

The depth of them haunted me.

A pair of black holes that missed nothing with a piercing sharpness. But they were glazed with another emotion. Hatred and gruel shrewdness. _Fool,_ I heard my inner-voice say. _You're going to die. _Its wing span was huge and even from it's awesome height when flapped a gust of wind hit me, causing my body pain and pushing the thick mist away, exposing us.

_If you can see them, they can see you,_ flooded a thought, perhaps a lesson learned long ago. It is so odd when your heart skips a few beats, your sound goes mute—the sharp and quick intake of breath—and your head and limbs freeze.

_"Move."_ Where the command came from—my head or the air—I didn't know, but I obeyed and was released from my trance. Why?—I will never know—but I took the red-eyed one's hand and pulled him to flee.

I limped—a sorry sight—and suddenly I was in the air, wind yelling in my ears and hair in my eyes. It took a moment to process what had just happened but we, the man and I, were flying in a ball of golden light. A snarl pierced all the commotion. Instinctively, I looked up through a whirling canopy and saw the dragon fly in pursuit.

A ball full of silver light warmed my cheek and prickled my hair as it grew in the in the white-haired man's hand. Next moment it shoot out of his hand and hit the dragon who tried to evade it too late.

It was clearly annoyed and flew into a rage, flying very fast and catching up. What was I doing? I couldn't just sit in a bubble and get caught. My thoughts threw themselves in a panic. I needed to be clam. I needed darkness. _Darkness!_ That was it! Darkness concealed, darkness weakened senses, darkness hid.

It was considerably necessary to concentrate. But that monster and it's mouth grew closer and larger. I closed my eyes and the back of my head whisper about the possibility of the dragon breathing fire and bring this chase to an end. _But no_, I reasoned, _this is the dragon's forest. It didn't burn it's forest before, it wouldn't now--_I hoped.

Shadows of the forest flew around us. Plenty of them since it was midday. It was hot but all I felt was cold sweat. The dragon was coming closer. It roared and I felt the heat like an oven. I screwed my eyes shut.

My eyes were shut but I saw—I saw true shadows of a demented dimension of the world around me. The Unseen.

A tornado of screams in the wind whipped me. I needed to draw on the strength of the shadows. I had to concentrate. A huge shadow laid a thick solid darkness in this gray world.The dragon's. I ignored all but it.

Touching the shadow of the dragon, I poured in confused thoughts and tried to suck some of it's aura. I thought of darkness, till I became darkness. I breathed in shadows, till I became shadows. I put death to senses, till I became senseless. It was too powerful. Too much to contain. I had no idea what I was doing. Too full of the dark. And it poured over me and into the golden bubble, into the red-eyed man.

And then I was no longer myself. I was darkness, shadows and death.

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R2R

Muslima's note: School's done! I have internet now and I'm free!!!! Mwahahahahahahahaahaaa!!!!!…. cough let's get on. Hope the chapter was clear enough.

DarkAngelB-- Dude, you reviewed in 2003 and it's 2004! LOLz, you prob. Thought I died!! I just turned 15! I'm OLD!!! (cries) I'm half way to 30! Imagine all the changes I've gone through since I was a baby and couldn't talk to now! WOW. I'll probabley, InshAllah be totally different person by the time I'm 30—SCARY! Lavitz girl Alexis-- OK I updated! Thanx for the input, lol. Kikaiyu-- Lloyd is AWESOME isn't he?! O.O (daydreaming) ….OK I'm back. Thanks I'll be sure to see and review your stories. Jocelyn Rose-- even AWESOME-er than Lloyd! I'm so glad you liked it. Hope your having a good summer. Aerena-- I'm back! And I hope you'll enjoy this chappie. Your such a sweetheart. Inform me if you've written anything if you review. I haven't been in ff.Net in such a llloooonnnggg time. Hugs and Kisses: OXOX!! .Sors-- Clifies (bady spelling) R evil. That's why I do them—I'm evil. Mwhahahah!… (slience) ….I'm kool.

--Muslima


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